The Texas State Capitol

We arrived in Austin just before noon. It was a sunny, crisp, early spring day in Texas, and the grounds of the Capitol were full of Texans enjoying the perfect, cool weather.

capitol building

The State Capitol, built of pink Texas granite, stands taller than the Capitol in Washington DC. It's an impressive site! And best of all, visiting is absolutely free!

We joined one of the frequent free guided tours to take us around the capitol building. I've been just once before, many years ago.

We started in the central rotunda beneath the massive capitol dome. The star at the very top, which looks so tiny from the ground, actually measures eight feet across! Portraits of each of the state governors line the walls spiraling all the way down the rotunda, ending with Ann Richards, George W Bush, and Rick Perry, the three former governors who have been in office during my lifetime.

capitol dome

Texas Congress is in session, and were due to meet at 2pm that day. We were a little early, so we got to enter the Senate and House chambers.

The senate is quite small, just fifty members, so all voting is done traditionally by hand or voice.

Texas Senate

The House is a lot bigger. Nowadays, voting is done electronically. Behind the Speaker's desk hung the original flag from the Battle of San Jacinto. It's only on display when the House is in session, once every two years.

Texas House of Representatives

After the tour, we were free to explore the capitol building.

A while later, we headed down the road to the nearby Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. This is an excellent museum all about the history of our great state! We were heading down to San Antonio, and Pinky wanted to learn more about Texas before we got there.

Bob Bullock Museum

Growing up in Texas, of course, we have to take Texas State History class in school. We are so proud of our state, but most non-Texans don't know all about the Alamo, San Jacinto, the Republic of Texas, and why we are so proud of our Lone Star State. The museum is great and informative, and tells the story of Texas' beginnings through its present.

Star of Texas

One of the coolest displays though, was the recovered wreck of La Belle, the 1685 flagship of famed French nobleman and explorer Robert de La Salle.  

"For want of an anchor, the ship was lost. For want of the ship, the colony was lost." 

The wreck of La Belle in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico doomed the French colony, and ended French power in Texas, leaving a vacuum for the Spanish to sweep in, changing Texas history and culture forever.

It was a fascinating display, with tons of amazing historical artifacts; weapons, canons, and treasure. The most interesting part though, were the displays about how they discovered and raised the ruined hull of the ship!

La Belle

We spent the early afternoon at the museum and had a blast.

But it was nearly time to move on down the road.

Lady Liberty

We were soon on our way down 35, heading to San Antonio.

Waco

We were down in Waco for my sister's wedding last week, and decided to stay an extra day after the wedding to tour around the cool little city.

Mom and Dad were exhausted after the wedding, of course, but my brother, my girlfriend, and I spent the day exploring. Our first stop was the Waco Mammoth National Monument.

Columbian Mammoth

After the awesome Mammoth Site visit, we went out to Cameron Park for a picnic lunch. The day was sunny, beautiful, and a little cold! Cameron Park is beautiful; the second-largest city park in the country after New York's Central Park. We sat at an area called "Lover's Leap", which overlooks the Brazos River.

Brazos River overlook

beautiful day at the park

After lunch, we went to the Dr Pepper Museum! Dr Pepper was invented in Waco over 100 years ago! I miss it! You can't find it in Thailand at all. We found a bottle of Dr Pepper in Japan last year but Pinky didn't really like it. She thought it tasted like a cough syrup.

Dr Pepper Museum

I didn't agree with that, but at the museum we learned that the inventor wanted to invent a soda that tasted "the way a drugstore smells". Pinky said she likes it a lot better now that she knows the history of Dr Pepper.

old Dr Pepper truck

Anyway, at least the museum is a lot of fun, and you can visit the old-fashioned soda fountain at the end of the visit.

at the museum

fun day at the museum

We ran around Waco all day, and it was nice to relax with an old-fashioned Dr Pepper float at the soda fountain in the early evening.

The next day would be rushed, busy, and super full of Texas history!

soda fountain

Texas Baseball

free ball cap for first 10,000 visitors!

"Play ball!" 

I took Pinky to her first ever baseball game at the Ballpark in Arlington Ameriquest Field in Arlington the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington "Globe Life Park in Arlington"... ah, who am I kidding. We all know it'll always be "The Ballpark in Arlington" to the locals and fans.

The Rangers hadn't been doing so hot; 5-10 against the 7-7 KC Royals, but we were hopeful. Anyway, it's just a lot of fun to be out at the ballpark, even if we don't win. Besides, it was free hat night! First 10,000 visitors got a free 1972 Texas cap with a 2016 AL West Championship pin!

with our cool pin caps

We went to the game with my buddy James. It started out kinda slow... actually very slow. We kept promising Pinky that baseball could get exciting! But the game was 0-0 at the ninth inning.

Still, we had a blast out at the stadium. It was so fun teaching Pinky the rules of baseball, and showing her all the traditions about the game and the team.

baseball!

We left at the ninth, but the Rangers ended up winning 1-0 in the thirteenth inning! Maybe not the most exciting first baseball game, but fun. I love going out to watch my Rangers each year when I'm home!

let's go, Rangers!

Cowtown: The Historic Stockyards District

Cowboy stuff, hmm? 

I can't think of a better place in North Texas for that than the Fort Worth Stockyards!

stockyards

The Stockyards were once known as the "Wall Street of the West". The cattle trade was huge! It was dangerous work, herding the cattle all along the Chisholm Trail between Fort Worth and Wichita, Kansas, but the cowboys were well rewarded. Fort Worth was known as the city "where the West begins", the last civilized town before the "wild west", full of outlaws and bandits.

cowboys

The stockyards nowadays are mostly open as a historic district for tourists, but they still hold a bit high-tech cattle auction, and weekly rodeo shows!

We took the bus from Sundance Square to the Stockyards, arriving in the early afternoon, with plenty of time to explore the Old West town.

We hit up the Stockyards Museum and the Cowboy Hall of Fame to learn more about the history of the district and the cowboys who made their livings here in Fort Worth.

Quanah Parker, the Comanche War Chief

At 4pm every day, the Stockyards' biggest attraction begins: the cattle drive!

the cattle drive begins

Cowboys on horseback drive a small herd of cattle down the street to the delight of pretty much everyone! It's quite an experience - surreal, almost! For a tourist from abroad (or, for that matter, from up north), this must be exactly what they imagine when they picture Texas.

driving the herd down main street

My girlfriend has come here all the way from Thailand, and what better introduction to the Great State of Texas than a real cattle drive at the historic Stockyards?

Yeehaw!

daily cattle drive

Trinity Railway Express

I'm back in Texas for a while before the next school year starts. This year, my girlfriend has come 9000 miles to visit me! I usually take a little break on my blog during April and May, but this year we will be touring around Texas, so I'll be writing about some of our adventures around here! I want to be a good host and show her all the great stuff that the Lone Star State has to offer!

TRE

Most people around here drive everywhere, but since I don't have a car in the United States anymore, Pinky and I were forced to venture out on public transportation - new territory for me - and we had a blast!

We started our first morning at Centreport Station, near DFW Airport, where we caught the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) to the historic art deco Texas and Pacific Station in Fort Worth. The TRE Runs between downtown Dallas and Fort Worth and connects to the DART and The T. Our one-day pass was valid for the TRE, the Dart, and the T, and cost only $5 for the day! Much better than paying for parking downtown, I guess! The ride took about half an hour.

Train arriving at the station

When we arrived at Sundance Square, once voted the top downtown area in the country, the city was preparing for the Main Street Art Festival which will be this weekend. It hadn't started yet, but  some of the artists were setting up their booths, and we got to wander around and check some of it out.

Our first stop exiting T&P Station was the Fort Worth Water Gardens!

Water Gardens

We also passed by the JFK memorial. The 35th President was tragically assassinated in Dallas in 1963. This statue in Fort Worth pays tribute to his famous visit to the city not long before his death.

JFK

Pinky wanted to see "cowboy stuff". I figured that Arlington might be a little disappointing in that regard, so we went into "Cowtown" to see what we could see. Country western music played loudly from the radio station in Sundance Square, and we enjoyed a nice barbecue lunch downtown. We also paid a visit to the free Sid Richardson Museum which houses Mr. Richardson's private collection of cowboy art.

We got chatting with the older lady at the front desk. I told her I lived in Bangkok but I was from Arlington originally.

"Welcome home!" she said.

I also explained how I wanted to show Pinky lots of "cowboy stuff".

"Well yeehaw!" the lady exclaimed.

We thought that was great!

we're sure in Texas now

I've always gotten around by car in Arlington and Fort Worth, so I didn't really know how to use the public transportation, or what it would be like. Pinky and I were actually quite impressed with the bus service (The "T") in Fort Worth! Besides the free "Molly the Trolley" that runs around Sundance Square and downtown, we were able to take the nice, clean, and efficient city bus all the way from Sundance Square to the Historic Stockyards District! Pinky did want to see "cowboy stuff" after all...

Sundance Square

So we boarded the T, and off to the Stockyards we went.

To be continued...

Happy Easter from Texas

It looks like the Easter Bunny visited!

It's my first Easter back in the States in two years. I'm glad to spend today with my family.

Happy Easter!

Songkran 2017

Today is the third day of Songkran, the Thai water festival!

It's super hot in Thailand, so in a way I'm glad I'm missing out - especially since the festivities will be subdued this year. But I also miss Songkran. I had so much fun when I participated in the giant city-wide water fight at Siam a few years ago.

Back in Texas, my buddy James and I had planned to hit up Wat Dallas and check out their Songkran celebration this year, but unfortunately the timing in 2017 didn't work out - it's on Easter Sunday! Too bad!

Anyway, happy Songkran to all! And happy Thai New Year!

My Cameras: Snap Sights!

This post is the fifth in a series about the cameras I use for my film photography hobby.

my underwater camera

I didn't plan this post well enough! This would have been a great one to put out on April Fool's Day as a sort of joke. Regardless, this is a film camera that I have and sometimes use, so I'll post here all the same. This is, after all, a series about my film cameras.

In Krabi a few years ago, Pinky and I were going on an island-hopping day cruise. We didn't want to bring our phones with us, and neither of us had a sports camera then, so I picked up an old waterproof camera at a souvenir shop on the beach. It already had a roll of film inside of it from who knows how many years ago. The camera was pretty dusty, but it only cost about 300 baht, so I picked it up and took it to Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi

I've got a Go-Pro-type camera now, but sometimes it's fun to take the Snap Sights! out, if for nothing else but the unpredictability and the fun of developing vacation photos weeks after returning home.

I wonder how it would look with some black and white underwater photos? Or what if I used some of that crazy purple film...? Hmm... Maybe I'll have to try that out sometime...

hanging out at the island

Back Home

I'm back in Texas now!

Usually I take a sort of hiatus from the blog while I'm in the US. If I do write, I just kind of sort my thoughts about what I've been up to, catch up on writing posts, or write up things like the Culture Capsule.

I might post more often this year though. I've been on a roll lately, and I'll be doing some fun stuff in the US this year. I've got a lot of great things to look forward to in the next two months.

leaving Seoul, South Korea

I left Seoul in the early evening, dreading the 12+ hour flight ahead of me.

I was flying American, probably my least-favorite airline, and ended up in a window seat on the back row against the back wall, so my seat couldn't even recline. I was thoroughly uncomfortable.

About eight hours into the flight, I finally fell asleep, and got a few hours of rest - more than usual for me! I woke up as we were flying over the Rockies, and was actually glad to have a window seat!

Rocky Mountains

I haven't seen snow in a long, long time! That's a nice sight to see. After spending all night flying over the oceans, this change of scenery tells me that we are finally over US soil, and that I'm nearly home and ready to be off of that cramped flight.

snow-capped mountains

I was relieved and happy when we started descending over Lake Grapevine. I was home!

landing in Dallas

Immigration is all automated in Dallas now, and customs was a breeze since I had nothing to declare. 

So now I'm back! I expect to be posting more frequently during my American holiday than I normally do. This has been a prolific few months for me on the blog lately! I've brought my Fujica camera and two rolls of Ilford Delta 100 with me, so expect a few black and white photo gallery posts about the US to show up here in the next few weeks!

Gyeongkokgung Palace 경복궁

With just twelve hours in South Korea, I needed to make my rushed trip into Seoul count! After landing on a cold misty morning just before dawn, I rushed through immigration and headed into town on the Airport Express.

a pagoda in the palace complex

Built in 1394, the "Northern Palace" is the biggest of Seoul's Five Grand Palaces.

Climbing the steps up from the subway station and squinting in the morning sunlight, I didn't feel like I was in the middle of the city at all. Tucked in between mountains and surrounded by gardens, the Gyeongkokgung Palace was beautiful and quiet. At 8am on a cold and rainy Friday morning, I nearly had the whole place to myself.

flowers blooming

The palace didn't open until 9, so I had some time to explore the grounds and grab a can of coffee to warm up. Like in Japan, early spring is cherry blossom season in Korea. They are just beginning to bloom!

cherry blossoms

The palace has been destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout its storied history, first by the Japanese in the 16th century, and more recently by the Japanese again during its imperial expansion just before the First World War.

inner courtyard

Korea was occupied by Japan until after the Second World War. In the 1980's, the Korean government began rebuilding the royal palace - an effort that was expected to take the next forty years. Now, the palace complex is almost totally restored.

one of the main buildings

Besides the palace buildings, the complex also houses the National Korean Folk Museum and the National Palace Museum of Korea. Admission to both was free of charge.

This reflects one of the things that I really appreciate about Korea. I've only been to the country twice, and never for longer than one day, but from what I can tell, the Ministry of Tourism is excellent. They are really proud to share their country and promote their culture to visitors. This is the same organization that offers the free transit tours for people with long layovers, and the country's tourism website is probably the best and most helpful that I've ever seen.

willows in the gardens

The Ministry of Tourism must be effective! I've wanted to come back to Korea since my first short layover three years ago. And now, my one-day visit to Seoul made me want to spend more time there. With the 2018 Winter Games coming up, Korea is proudly promoting its culture around the world more than ever!

a pagoda on a pond

With this attitude, the palace was very accessible, even for someone who knows next to nothing about Korea. The palace grounds were huge, with sprawling gardens and many beautiful buildings and lots of areas to explore.

In my opinion, the most beautiful structure in the palace complex is Hyangwonjeong, the "Pavilion of Far-Reaching Fragrance". Sitting on a tiny island on a small pond, the pavilion is reached by a bridge called Chwihyanggyo, the "Bridge Intoxicated with Fragrance". I guess it must smell really nice on that island! Unfortunately,  the bridge is blocked off so you can't cross it, so I'll never know for sure.

Pavilion of Far-Reaching Fragrance

At 10 o'clock, the crowds started showing up. It was time for the first changing of the guards ceremony! They hold the ceremony every hour on the hour from 10am-3pm.

guards marching in

Re-enactors dressed like royal guards from the Joseon Dynasty marched in, while the commander of the royal guard watched and directed from the top of one of the huge wall gates.

palace guards

An announcer explained the ceremony in English and Korean while a deep booming drum kept the beat of the marching guards.

The palace was empty when I arrived, but the outer courtyard (outside of the palace) was now packed with people to watch this impressive display.

changing of the guards

That was all I had time for in my one day in Seoul, but I think I picked a good thing to see while I was there! I'm definitely thinking about planning a longer layover in Korea next time. It would be great to see more of the country.